The Guardian ran a great article about the history of the Pogues classic Christmas song “Fairytale Of New York“. Whilst there was a lot in there that I already knew, there were some real gems that I didn’t. Notably that before it was decided to duet with the late, great Kirsty MacColl both Chrissie Hynde and Suzi Quatro were considered. Personally I think that Kirsty was not only the right choice but also an inspired choice.
the video for the song was directed by Matt Dillon and as he couldn’t use the NYPD choir as it doesn’t exist he invited the NYPD pipe band to take part. The pipe band duly joined Dillon and the Pogues for the shoot, however none of them knew the song “Galway Bay” which is mentioned in the song as “The boys from the NYPD choir are singing ‘Galway Bay'”. So if you watch the video carefully you can watch them mouthing the words to the only song that they all knew, none other than the Mickey Mouse Club chant!
If you’d like to read the full Guardian article click here. And finally to celebrate “Fairytale Of New York”‘s tenth appearance in the UK charts, it is at number 15 this week (also it’s 8th consecutive year in the UK top 40), enjoy the song below.
Like many people of my generation I was sad to hear of the hard copy demise of the Dandy comic this week, although it is still available on-line. I tried a few outlets today but was unable to get myself a copy of that final edition which has an appearance from Paul McCartney. So if anyone has a spare one let me know, I’d be happy to pay for it.
Now as this is a music blog I need to find a couple of Dandy appropriate songs, so here goes.
They say that opposites attract right? Well I think the same could be said for certifiable fruitloops too. Why would I say that? Well earlier this week Lady Gaga (clearly a fruitloop of the highest order) bought 55 items of Michael Jackson’s (a major league fruitloop) stage gear at a LAauction.
Many of Jacko’s stage clothes were designed and made by American costume designers Michael Bush and Dennis Tompkins. Some the items sold included one of his infamous crystal gloves ($115,000) and the less glamorous pair of jeans ($50,000). The auction did raise money for good causes as well. Some of the proceeds were given to a guide dogs charity and some to a Las Vegas hospice.
Many of Jacko’s fans have expressed their displeasure that Gaga would keep the items stored whereas they claim that Michael Jackson wanted them in a museum. Gaga made a brief statement via Twitter which read ‘archived & expertly cared for in the spirit & love of Michael Jackson, his bravery, & fans worldwide’. Clearly full of her usual bollocks, but not necessarily denying any public showing of some of Jacko’s stage wardrobe.
Given the ubiquitous nature of text messages these days I find it hard to believe that it was only twenty years ago that the first ever text message was sent. The message was despatched from a PC to a mobile phone by an engineer using the Vodafone network in the UK; the message was simply ‘Merry Christmas‘.
The development of texting or SMS (Short message Service) actually goes back further than that. It began as an idea by Matti Makkonen a Finnish Civil Servant. It was during a pizza meal at a telecommunications conference in 1984. his idea became the standard for the SMS facility that we use today. Strangely it was never patented, a little unlucky for Mr Makkonen then!
I assume that there were a few more texts sent in 1992, however the rise has been incredible with an estimated 8 trillion sent last year. I wonder what percentage of those were illegally viewed by the UK tabloid press?
So how about a few text related (some very loosely) songs to celebrate?
Based upon information released recently it is alleged that the US Government had planned to blow up the moon in the late 50s as a means of intimidating their nemesis in the Cold War, the Soviet Union. After the Russians effectively took the lead in the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 it was apparently believed that a show of strength like blowing up the moon would really scare the Russians. Apparently it was called ‘A Study of Lunar Research Flights’ or ‘Project A119‘. Even that sounds a little James Bond like doesn’t it?
It really does seem like a crackpot scheme and it is unlikely at the time that anyone possessed enough in their nuclear arsenal to actually complete the task. At best it might have left the man in the moon looking more like the elephant Man and the satellite’s surface covered in high levels of radiation. In addition any debris that fell to earth would almost certainly have been radioactive as well.
I wonder if this idea came from the same think tank that thought of the idea of using an explosive cigar to blow up Fidel Castro or to rig the voting in Florida in 2000 in favour of Dubya. Ooops wait a minute that second one was true wasn’t it? had it happened then Neil Armstrong probably wouldn’t have been there to utter his famous ‘one step for man’ line. But then again maybe it did happen and didn’t work very well other than to make the moon radioactive. That would certainly give more credence to those people who believe the moon landings were faked and took place in a film studio directed by Stanley Kubrick.
I’d love to know what you think of this incredibly stupid, yet potentially real plan of Eisenhower’s government. Bearing in mind that his Vice President was Tricky Dicky Nixon, maybe it isn’t surprising! Anyway as I have said many times before so here are a few songs that may not have happened or certainly wouldn’t have been the same had the moon been blown to smithereens, feel free to add your own moon related songs.
Apologies but there are two kiddie fiddlers for the price of one on this next one!
And finally a special Billy Bonus, my favourite track from Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark side Of The Moon’; “Brain Damage”
It would be fair to say that many rock stars who seemed to really have balls in their early years become progressively eunuch-like as they get older. especially those that step away from the dark side to accept the odd award from the UK Royal Family. No names mentioned for now, but they and you know who they are.
However in my opinion one rock ‘n’ roll Knight of the Realm clearly showed this week that he still has balls and I salute him for that. Sir Elton John played a show in Beijing in China this weekend. as usual the set list was vetted, as it is for any major performance in China. However what he did outside of the songs was brilliant. he expressed his support for Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei. There were apparently gasps from the audience when he said it and it doesn’t seem to have been reported in any of the Chinese media. Well there’s a surprise! Click here to read the story on the BBC website.
It follows a lot of support for pussy Riot from artists playing in Russia in recent months and Bjork‘s chant of Tibet, Tibet when she played the Chinese capital in 2008. Are these protests a sign that rock ‘n’ roll is ready to show its huge cojones once again? I hope so!
I have a feeling that the Chinese government may have censored the next video as the sound disappears after a few seconds, what do you think?
Judging from this picture Elton is also supporting China right? (geddit??)
As a child I really enjoyed the Narnia stories and although they have lost a bit of sparkle for me as I got older they are still great stories. I think the way that C.S. Lewis‘ Christian beliefs crept into the stories in a metaphorical kind of way soured them a little. Anyway to celebrate the news that a C.S. Lewis memorial stone will be placed in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey next year I thought I’d pick a Lion, Witch and Wardrobe song selection for you. Click here to read the full report on the BBC website. In a strange coincidence Clive Staples Lewis died 49 years ago today, 22nd November 1963, the same day that President Kennedy was assassinated.
The chart topping double was always seen as a great achievement when I was a teenager. I seem to recall Rod Stewart taking it a step further by having the number one single and album in both the UK and the USA at one point. Has that ever been done since? I’m not sure. Anyway the singles and album chart double is back with a bang in the UK. Last week Robbie Williams hit the top of the singles chart with a song that reluctantly I have to admit to liking; “Candy”. He then doubled up by sitting on the album chart peak with his new album ‘Take The Crown‘.
Robbie when he was still on the throne
He may have taken the crown but his time on the throne was short-lived, the single is down to number six and the album to number five. But a new pretender has taken the throne, sadly it’s One Direction or Wand erection as an acquaintance of mine called them. Are the charts as important now after 60 years of existence. I think they are and I am bloody disappointed that this band of five pop muppets has achieved this feat. Particularly as it seems to me that only one of them has a halfway decent voice. That’ll be you Harry Styles.
Their album is called ‘Take Me Home’ and I do wish that someone would. The single is called “Little Things” and on another sad note it’s an insipid cover of an Ed Sheeran song. But I guess Ed has to pay the bills. A previous One Direction single “Live While We’re Young” is still in the top 30 at number 26. While their first album ‘Up All Night’ continues to hang around the album chart at number 25. The pensioners are still hanging in there in the album charts though. Rod Stewart is at number two and the Rolling Stones are at number three, albeit with a Christmas album and yet another hits compilation respectively.
This month, November 2012, marks the 60th anniversary of the UK singles chart which began in the NME in 1952. We’ve come a long way from crooner Al Martino‘s “Here In My Heart” all those years ago to the current resident of the number one spot in the UK singles chart; Robbie Williams with “Candy”. Maybe we haven’t come too far though as Robbie does fancy himself as a crooner doesn’t he. I must confess that Robbie’s current number 1 is one of the few songs of his that I like.
The chart now includes downloads which have helped to boost sales of singles considerably. Apparently there have been 3.7 billion singles sold in that 60 year period in all formats. But the peak for the physical format was the 80s which recorded 640 million singles sales. The biggest selling UK single ever was Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind ’97” which was the singers dedication to Princess Diana. It sold 4.9 million copies and therefore raised millions for charity. Personally I prefer the original version. Does anyone ever play the Diana version these days? Incidentally do you know what the biggest selling single never to top the charts is? It’s Wham! with “Last Christmas/ Everything She Wants” which lost out to Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” which is the second best-selling single ever back in 1984.
There have been more than 1,200 number ones in the chart’s history. The artists with most number one singles in the UK are;
As a teenager I can still recall lining up my cassette recorder microphone near the transistor radio to record my favourite songs from the Radio 1 chart rundown back in the 70s. How many of you did the same? I know of at least one fellow blogger who did. You can check out his excellent post on this chart milestone on his Every Record tells A Story blog by clicking here. You’ll even be able to see him on the chart history documentary on the Beeb! Recording the charts now seems almost pointless given the availability of music on-line, which I think is a real shame. But hey that’s progress right? Talking of progress, the first ever UK number one single based on download sales alone was as far back as 2006. It was the excellent “Crazy” from Gnarls Barkley.
There are also a number of chart records an artist probably wouldn’t want though, like;
Most Top 75 hits (97 of them) without a number one. That one is the honour of the Glee Cast. I hope they keep that one forever
Most Top 40 hits without a number one is easily won by Depeche Mode with 40 of them.
But perhaps the one you really should feel sorry for is Sash! A record of five number 2 singles and no number 1.
But let me finish on a better note. The first single I ever bought was a classic UK number one in my opinion. It was “Sugar Sugar” by the Archies and stayed at the top for 8 weeks at the tail end of 1969. Personally I fell that the charts will stay with us for many years yet, albeit very much adapted from the old days of purely physical sales. I would love to hear your thoughts on this fabulous UK Charts anniversary.
According to the Mail OnLine (so let’s treat the information cautiously) dogs prefer classical music to heavy metal and they don’t seem to like those cheap relaxing music for your canine friend CDs either. I wonder if that has anything to do with the location of their sub woofer? Click here to read the full article.
Anyway I thought that I’d like to try a little experiment about how true this is. So here are a few dog related songs that I would like you to play to your mutt and tell me what reaction you get. Unfortunately I can’t do that as I only have cats.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 